GaiSensei
by lightning king
Summary: What if Kakashi was never a part of Team 7 when they first became genin?  Instead their sensei is Might Gai.  This surprisingly has many consequences especially concerning one knucklehead ninja. Watch as a new taijutsu/ninjutsu hybrid appears in Konoha.
1. Chapter 1

"Team 7: Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruna, Sasuke Uchiha." Iruka-sensei informed us. "What! Why do I have to be with him?" I complained. "Come on, Iruka-sensei. You know he will only hold me back."

"Shut up Naruto! Sasuke-kun is so much better than you anyway." Sakura said as she bonked me on the head. Iruka just looked on in pity as he saw me being unfairly treated. "Don't worry Naruto, I am sure that your jounin sensei will make sure all of you become great ninja. Your sensei is Might Gai."

Suddenly this weird dude popped out of nowhere. He was dressed in this strange looking but strangely alluring green thing. He had caterpillars... I mean eyebrows that were huge. "Um... who are you?" I asked while rubbing my hair.

"I? I am the green beast of Konoha. My name is Might Gai. I am here to pick up Team 7." Teeth shining, thumbs up, and green spandex, oh and the caterpillars all rolled up into one package. "Now follow me my youthful charges and let us go and test your Youth!" the strange man shouted as he ran out the classroom.

A collective sweat-drop formed on all the students. Even Iruka-sensei was sporting one. All the young ninja looked at the weird man like he was crazy. Then they looked at Sakura, Sasuke, and I and the pity was rolling off them in waves. I think I even heard a troublesome from Shikamaru, but I might have been wrong because he seemed to be asleep.

"Ok... I guess we follow him?" Sakura questioned us. We agreed and all got up and cautiously walked out of the classroom to meet our new sensei. Of course our new 'sensei' forgot to mention where we were supposed to meet him.

"Is anyone else under the impression that we are in deep trouble with that man as our sensei?" I asked with what I considered extreme tact as I felt like going up to the Old Man and giving him a piece of my mind for giving me this lunatic as a sensei. I guess it worked because they both just nodded their head.

We set off to find our sensei with me leading the pack. We checked high and low, under rocks and above the trees. Of course my teammates looked at me like I was crazy, but I was going to find our sensei were Sakura-chan would be so grateful. After walking around for two hours, I finally found him in training ground 11.

"Hurry up idiot!" Sakura screeched... I mean kindly said. "Your slowing us down, and you even made Sasuke-kun have to find our sensei for you." I glared at Sasuke because it should have been me Sakura was congratulating so. Anyway, we walked up to the spandex wearing man while he was doing pushups.

"4998...4999...5000. Yosh, I am feeling fired up. Oh, it appears my youthful students have finally arrived. Where have you been my students?" Gai asked while looking at us with his freaky eyebrows. "Well, Gai-sensei, you didn't tell us where to meet you." Sakura tried to explain.

Gai looked at us with a shocked expression and then he burst into tears. "Oh my students! I have already failed you. I shall now run around the village 50 times in the next 3 hours, and if I can't do that then I will climb Hokage mountain with only my fingers." I looked around to see Sakura's and Sasuke's expression. They both had their mouths so wide that I could have put my fist into it. Though I wouldn't ever think of doing that to my dear Sakura-chan. Of course I was looking at my new sensei with something approaching awe. It would be so cool to climb up the Hokage mountain using only my fingers!

"Ooh, Gai-sensei, can you teach me how to do that?" Sakura and Sasuke looked at me like I was crazy, but Gai-sensei had two shining stars for eyes. "YOSH! Of course I will teach you how to do that Naruto-kun. All you have to do is pass my test." He said with a smile and a thumbs up.

Sakura's brow furrowed, "What test, Gai-sensei?" "Why none other than your test to become genin of this marvelous village of course. Now before we start this youthful test I want each of you to introduce yourself." He waved at us to sit on the ground, so we all took a seat and Gai-sensei started the introductions.

"Now I am known as the sublime green beast of Konoha. My interests include training and challenging my great rival Kakashi. I am also known as the taijutsu master of Konoha. Now my young charges, let us have you go first." Gai said while pointing to Sakura.

"Um, my name is Haruna Sakura. I like..." she blushed as she looked at Sasuke. "My hobbies include..." She blushed again as she looked at Sasuke. "My dream for the future is..." This time she gave a ear-splitting shriek as she blushed while looking at Sasuke. "Kami-sama, why won't she look at me that way?" I thought.

Sasuke went next and basically said he is emo. Then it was my turn. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen and training. My hobbies include gardening, training, and eating ramen. I don't like the three minutes I have to wait for ramen to cook. I also don't like people who hate others before they even know them. My dream is to be the greatest Hokage this village has ever seen. Then people will acknowledge me. Believe it!" Man that felt good. Now Sakura and Sasuke can bask in my awesomeness.

"Hnn" said one. "Yeah right, keep dreaming idiot." said the other. Ok maybe that didn't go as I planned. "Yosh, don't worry Naruto-kun. I am sure that with my expert training the position of Hokage will be within your reach." Gai-sensei said with what I was coming to believe was his standard pose: the nice guy pose with teeth shining and a thumb up.

"Wow, you really mean it Gai-sensei? You really have faith in me?" I asked with curiosity because no one else had ever believed in my dream except the Old Man. "Of course I do Naruto-kun. Anything can be accomplished if enough training is done. Now let us began your genin exam to see if you will be getting that training."

Gai-sensei got all of us to line up before him. He then positioned us in a semi-circle around him with Sakura-chan in the middle. "Now listen closely as I detail your test." We all immediately started paying attention. Though I was curious why Sakura kept looking at Sasuke with stars in her eyes. Maybe he had something on his face? I decided to think about it later and give all my attention to Gai-sensei.

"I will stand right here and not move no matter what you throw at me. Your goal is to touch me or get me to move away from where I am standing. Come at me all at once or individually is your choice. Now lets start!" As soon as he said start I rushed forward. I was going to prove to everyone there that I was better than Sasuke and definitely going to become a genin. Then I could get the really cool training.

"Yah!" I yelled as I took swing after swing at the man. "Dammit! Nothing's working!" I tried every move I knew but nothing worked. Finally Gai-sensei backhanded me away. The thing was I went like 100 feet! "This is crazy. He barely hit me and I went this far away. How strong is this Guy?" After taking that hit I decided to hide behind a tree to see how the others were doing.

Sasuke was getting his butt handed to him. Well kinda because Gai-sensei hadn't really attacked him or anything, but at least none of Sasuke's attacks were getting anywhere near our strange teacher. After looking around again, I didn't see Sakura anywhere. "_I guess she's hiding."_ I thought with a shrug.

I did the **shadow clone** jutsu and rushed back onto the attack. Gai raised an eyebrow (shudder) at the high ranking technique, but immediately destroyed all my clones. "What! How the hell are you doing all this?" I couldn't believe the strength of this Gai. He was destroying everything I sent after him.

"Come now, my students. Is this the limit of your Youth! Let me see the Fires of Youth burn in your eyes!" Gai shouted. "Yatta! I am going to show you Gai-sensei. Your going to pass me and train me on your genin team. ** Shadow clone** jutsu." Two hundred clones popped into existence all ready to force Gai-sensei to take at least one step.

"What the hell? How did the dobe manage to learn such a technique?" Sasuke muttered. Ha now he sees that I am just better than him. "Now clones. Let us show our future sensei just how strong we are. Yeah!" The clones charged forward ready to put life and limb on the line. Though they just popped when they were destroyed.

That was when I witnessed for the first time why Gai-sensei was called sublime. His taijutsu was awe-inspiring. He moved with such grace and skill that even though he was staying in one spot, it was like my eyes couldn't even see him. What was once two hundred solid clones was now reduced to twenty-three.

After seeing the massacre, I pulled my clones back and decided to hold a strategy meeting. "Ok guys... we just got our ass kicked. Anyone got any suggestions?" I looked around and spotted one with his hand up. "Yes, you, the one in the back." He looked around before pointing at himself. I just nodded my head. "Um, we could use explosives to force him to move."

"_Hmmm, not a bad idea,_" I thought. "Anyone else got any more plans?" After looking at all the clones with frowns on their faces from concentration, one finally raised his hand. "You, the one with the blonde hair." "We all have blonde hair, genius." One clone muttered sarcastically. "Hey, no talking in the ranks unless you have a suggestion." I told them.

"Well we could ask Sasuke to use a fire jutsu and force him to move." Every clone turned to look at him like he was crazy. I mean if we let Sasuke show off even more then Sakura would never look at me right. "How about we combine both plans." One clone suggested. "I mean hear me out. We have Sasuke start out with a fire jutsu. Then we surround Gai-sensei in a semi-circle with each one of us carrying explosion tags. After Sasuke attacks, each clone throws a kunai with the explosive note at a different level. Some throw high, others throw low, and some throw medium. This way we guarantee he will move."

"Well I don't know. It sounds really complicated, and I would have to get the teme's help to pull it off." I whined. "Come on boss, let's follow this guy's plan." Most of the other clones agreed as well, so I generously agreed to follow the clone's plan. After we broke from the huddle to set the plan in motion, I realized that each clone was me, so I literally just debated with myself on the best course of action. I just used different people who were me but weren't me... "Ah my brain hurts!" I shouted.

As I neared Sasuke, I finally realized where Sakura was. She was out cold sitting next to a tree. "Sakura-chan!" I yelled as I ran up to her to see what the problem was. I shook her and shook her, but the only thing I saw wrong was the knot on her head. Finally I succeeded in getting her to wake up, but when she saw my beautiful face, she must have been so enraptured that she had to hit it away or else she would have swooned. Of course it really hurt when I hit my head on a tree from being hit so hard by her.

"Sakura-chan listen up, I have a plan." I told her confidently. I explained the plan to her and asked if she wanted to help throw exploding kunai. She seemed reluctant to agree but finally did when I told her that Sasuke was going to help. Maybe she thought she would get to see him beaten again? I know I was hoping for that.

After my clone reported back that Sasuke really didn't want any help but he would send one fire jutsu out just to see what would happen, I put my plan into action.

My clones, along with Sakura-chan, rushed forward to surround Gai-sensei. Sasuke shot off his fire jutsu, while everyone else surrounded sensei. Gai-sensei just looked at the jutsu headed toward him and held out his hand. Then he freaking punched the fireball headed towards him! "What the hell!" everyone shouted.

We immediately started throwing all the exploding kunai at him. Gai-sensei initially just dodged them, but when on accidently hit another, it set off a chain reaction that finally got Gai-sensei to move.

"Yatta! We finally did it. Now he has to teach us that amazing training technique." I was dancing with joy that I was finally a genin. Even Sakura-chan and the Teme looked happy that we passed.

"Yosh! Great job my youthful companions. I see that you have learned a great lesson from this test. Yes, my students, that lesson is teamwork." After seeing our confused faces, Gai-sensei himself got a confused look. "Didn't you realize that individually you could not make me move, but together as a team you were able to move me?"

"Oh... well I knew that." I declared loudly. At Sasuke's and Sakura's disbelieving stares, I started scratching my head in embarrassment. "So we're genin right, Gai-sensei?" Sakura-chan asked.

"Yes! You are now the proud students of Konoha's Green Beast, Might Gai! Team practice begins tomorrow at 7:00 A.M. sharp. I expect you all to be here on time. Now who wants to stay here and learn how to climb Hokage mountain with only your fingers?" At this Sakura and Sasuke walked away with Sakura asking Sasuke to go out with here to celebrate their new genin status. "_One day, teme, one day it will be me she is asking out_." Now to get my training from my new sensei.

I was so excited. I would now be taking another step closer to reaching my goal of Hokage. "Well Naruto-kun, it seems you are the only one who has stayed. Now let me teach you one of the most important things I can ever teach you, so listen carefully Naruto-kun."

"Is it a new jutsu, Gai-sensei? Is it? Is it?" I was bouncing around in excitement at getting to learn a new jutsu. I couldn't wait to show it off to Sakura-chan. Then she would forget all about _Sasuke_ and start begging to go out with me. I could just see it now. Aw, such sweet thoughts. Unfortunately, reality caught up to me at Gai-sensei's words.

"No, Naruto-kun, it is not a jutsu. It something even better." he said grandiosely. I got all excited again. "It is the 'self-imposed rule, Naruto-kun" Gai-sensei dictated. "With this rule even a failure can become great. You see, Naruto-kun, that many ninja set out to do a certain task, but many don't try their hardest or fail. With the 'self-imposed rule' even when you fail, you win. An example would be if I lost a bet, then I would do 500 push-ups. If I cannot do something, then maybe I will run around Konoha 10 times. Do you see how this works, Naruto-kun?"

"I think so, Gai-sensei. Say, Gai-sensei, do you think with this rule that I can beat Sasuke and impress Sakura?" Gai-sensei looked at me seriously a moment and then said, "With this rule, you can beat me, Naruto-kun, and become Hokage. Also you can throw in those other things too." He then took his trademark pose: teeth shining brightly, thumb up, and huge smile on his face.

"Thanks, Gai-sensei. Yatta, can we start our training now Gai-sense?" I asked bouncing around, already eager to start kicking butt. Gai-sensei looked at me with his chin in his hands. "Naruto-kun, I have a training trick if you want to learn it, but this trick could be very dangerous and be very hard for you."

"Don't worry, Gai-sensei. If I can't do this trick of yours then I will do 100 push-ups and sit-ups." I declared proudly with my own imitation of the nice-guy pose. "YOSH! That's the spirt, Naruto. I will be right back, so stay here and await my arrival." With that he disappeared into thin air! "_Wow, he is fast._" I thought in awe.

After five minutes, he arrived back with something in his arms. "Ok, Naruto, these are training weights. I want you to put these own underneath your clothes on your arms and legs. I would also suggest a change in clothes were no one will be able to tell that you are wearing weights. If you dream of beating your genius teammate then you will want every advantage you can have."

I looked at the man in awe. Not only was he helping me get stronger, he was also helping me finally realize my dream of showing Sakura that I was so much better than Sasuke. This guy was amazing.

I couldn't contain my grin any longer, and I started thanking Gai-sensei profusely. He waved my thanks off, and he helped me strap the weights on.

"Holy crap. I can barely move." This was crazy. Even the smallest movement was hard now! I looked to Gai-sensei to see if he had any words of wisdom. "Naruto-kun, it is now time for our workout. I believe we should start at 200 push-ups, 200 sit-ups, and 200 squats. Then we should move onto running. How does 20 miles sound?"

I looked at him like he was crazy, but then I started remembering the 'self-imposed rule'. "_I guess this is what he meant by hard training, but if it makes me stronger, I don't care. I will become stronger, and I will become Hokage."_

"Hai, Gai-sensei!" We started our workout for the day. As I sweated, toiled, and plainly almost passed out, the only thought going through my head was that I would get stronger. We ended the day after the promised 20 mile run. Gai-sensei then said that if I wanted he would be available for even more training tomorrow morning. I agreed, and he told me to be here at 5:00 A.M.

"Gai-sensei?" I asked with confusion. "Yes, Naruto-kun?" he responded with a smile on his face. "What's 5:00 A.M.?" At my question, I could see the sweat-drop form on his head as he face-faulted.

"Don't worry, Naruto-kun. Tomorrow we will do more warm-ups and get you into shape. If we have enough time, I might even start teaching some of the goken." That sounded cool! I couldn't wait to begin, even though I didn't like the sound of more warm-ups. I thanked Gai-sensei for his help today and started walking back to my apartment. The problem was I was so tired from training that I could barely make it, and when I finally got to my apartment, the only thing I did before passing out on my bed was setting my alarm clock for the ungodly hour of 5:00 A.M.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto**

I woke up in the morning with every freaking muscle protesting my every move. How the hell could I hurt this much. Stupid weights. Wait... 'self-imposed rule', ok calm down, Naruto. Weights help me get stronger, so... sorry weights... your not stupid.

I looked over to the clock. "Oh crap. I am late!" I shouted. Gai-sensei even said that he would teach me the goken too. Though I really didn't know what the goken was, it sounded really cool. I took a quick shower and started getting dressed. I ate something real quick. Really didn't know what it was but that is beside the point. When I saw the clock right before I left my apartment, it read 5:05.

"Well, maybe he won't care?" I wondered. Then I remembered the 'self-imposed rule'. "Crap! I am going to kill myself with this thing." I despaired. After my moment of self-despair, I realized that I was just getting later, so I started running to training ground 11. Well, maybe not running exactly because of the weights, but I was doing my best. Now that I think about it, how the hell did I survive that 'warm-up' last night?

I finally arrived at training ground 11 ready to begin a new day of training. The problem was that I didn't see my sensei anywhere. I looked high and low too! Finally after a long time of looking, like one minute, Gai-sensei finally showed up.

"Naruto-kun... I am very disappointed. You are late!" Sensei said as he got closer to me. "I am sorry, Gai-sensei. I will increase my weights and then run extra today." I said. He seemed to be in thought for a second. Then he said, "Ok that will be sufficient, but for your lateness you will have to be punished." He then hit him! I am not talking about a small punch or light tap. He freaking nailed me! I can already feel a huge bruise forming.

"Ok, now let me add some more weight to you." He then proceeded to place even more weight on me. This is just like yesterday. I can barely move. "Ok, Naruto, did you find any better clothes to wear with those weights?" I was confused before I remembered what he was talking about.

"No, Gai-sensei. When I left from training, the only thing I was able to do was go and collapse on my bed." I shuddered at remembering the pain I was yesterday. Of course if I get stronger than the pain was ok. Not the smartest reasoning, but it would suffice for now.

"Yosh! That means that you can wear this, my youthful student." He then proceeded to pull out an exact replica of the spandex... thing that he was wearing.

'Ok, Naruto, this is a changing moment in your life. You can wear this thing and make sensei happy, or you can decline and get some real clothes and have people not laugh at you. Which will it be?' As these thoughts were going through my head, I was carefully examining the... thing. After a couple of minutes of deliberation, I finally had my answer. "Gai- sensei, in all honesty, I can't wear that thing."

After making my choice, I somehow got the feeling that the whole world was thanking me, but that was probably just my imagination. The problem with my decision was that my sensei started crying. A sweat-drop started forming on my head from seeing this grown man crying and shouting about youth. After he got over his fit, he decided that it would be best if we sprinted to a ninja store he knew that would be open at this time in the morning.

"Just think of it as training, Naruto-kun. The faster we get there, the stronger you become." Gai declared in his pose. After he said that, we both took off running, though it would be more accurate to say that I just took off.

We arrived at the ninja store to get me some new clothes. We both walked in and greeted the cashier. After some cordial chatting between sensei and the man, I got bored and went to look around. That was when I saw the outfit that was calling me. It was beautiful! It was even better than the piece of perfect that I already had on. The outfit consisted of a sleek pair of black pants, a red and black long-sleeve shirt, and an undershirt of chainmail. It was perfect.

I signaled Gai-sensei and told him my choice. He looked it over and said it would do, but then he tried one more time to convince me to wear his green... spandex. I took another hard look at the spandex and after thinking my options over, I regretfully told him that I would take the other outfit. With tears running down his face, Gai-sensei gave me his ok. Then he gave me the nice guy pose.

I changed outfits and placed the clothes were the weights couldn't be seen. Then I tied my headband on and went out from the changing room. "Naruto-kun, you truly look like you are ready to show the world your youth, but I do have one suggestion to make. I would suggest that instead of using your protector on your forehead, you put it on your arm or make it into a belt." He then showed me his.

"Ok, Gai-sensei. I will wear mine as a belt just like yours." I then gave him the nice-guy pose. The smile on sensei's face was of such brightness that I thought he was about to hug me, but that didn't happen. We then ran back to the training ground. The problem was that I was already getting tired. These new weights were already tiring me out! I would persevere. No weights can stop, Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage of Konoha! Believe it!

"Ok, Naruto-kun, let us get down to training after our slight detour. We now have one hour and a half before your teammates get here. One hour of that time will be spent on warm-ups and running. The last thirty minutes will be spent with me teaching the basics of the goken. Now let's get to it!" With that we started doing push-ups, sit-ups, and some running.

After the hour of hell, I mean training, was over, Gai-sensei finally told me what the goken was. Apparently goken means strong fist. It's also a taijutsu style that sensei himself uses. "Wow, that means that I will be able to kick your butt with your own style, sensei? Because with the training you're giving me, you said I would be able to defeat you, right?"

"Ha ha ha, right you are my youthful student! Of course I expect you to master this style and face me with it one day, but I also expect you to better it. Every single second you are training under me, every single team practice, and every time you train alone, the whole point is to be better. It does not matter if it is just a little bit better or a lot better. The point of every training session is to be better. That is one thing that I will teach the whole team later."

After he said that, the wind blew threw the clearing like Kami himself was acknowledging sensei's words. I was rapt at sensei's words. This was a principle I could live for. To better myself every single time and to take the goken to new heights, both would be things I would accomplish on my way to being Hokage.

Gai-sensei then started showing me some of the basic katas of the goken style. He only showed me a couple, and then told me to just practice them for the rest of our time together. After thirty minutes, I saw Sasuke and Sakura-chan walking up. I stopped practicing and ran to meet them. I really didn't want anyone to know that I was training just yet. I would beat the teme and Sakura-chan would praise my name.

"Ok, my youthful genin, this is our first practice together as a team. I will be doing various exercises with you for the next week, and then we will be starting our missions. My first lesson is something any genin should know. How to mould chakra is my first lesson to you my students." After he said that, he demonstrated by walking up a tree with his feet!

"Thats so cool, Gai-sensei! How do I do it? How do I do it?" I shouted. Being able to walk up anything would have allowed my pranks to reach new heights, so I knew this exercise would be very helpful later on. "You have to concentrate the right amount of chakra to your feet. Too much and you fly off but too little and you won't stick to the tree, the point of the exercise is to find the right amount of chakra to place in a jutsu. When you are able to do this exercise, your jutsu will become easier to do because you won't mess up the jutsu by using too much chakra or too little."

After that explanation, we all started to do the exercise. "Dammit! I keep falling!" I then looked over to see how the esteemed Sasuke was doing. To my joy he wasn't doing much better than me. He would keep falling after only getting a little higher than me. Then I look to Sakura and said, "That a way, Sakura-chan. You're doing great!" She was already high up in the tree. I knew she was the girl for me!

"Shut-up, baka!" Sakura then looked at Sasuke with a red look in her face. Maybe she had a fever? I then threw myself into mastering this exercise. It would be the one of my first steps into bettering myself. I could do this. I would do this. Bettering myself, improving the goken, beating Sasuke, and becoming Hokage all started here. Gai-sensei had us practice the exercise all day. By the end of it, Sasuke and I had almost completed it. Gai-sensei dismissed us after six hours of tree-climbing. Even Sakura-chan had started doing the exercise as long as she could at the prompting of sensei.

When everyone left, I went up to sensei and asked if we could continue training. "Yosh! Naruto-kun you truly are a youthful student! I would be proud to continue training with you." We then started running again. For some reason when Gai-sensei said training, he really meant running. Maybe it was just something all jounin did? Anyway we ended up running around 30 miles. To say I was tired would be a huge understatement. I thought I was about to die!

We finally came back to what I now considered to be our team's personal training ground. Gai-sensei then got me up and we did katas again. After two full hours of katas, Gai-sensei finally said training was over for the day. I collapsed. There was no moving, there was nothing but pain all over my body. It really wasn't fun to hurt everywhere. Gai-sensei left after we were done but not before reminding me of our training tomorrow morning at 5:00 A.M.

I lay there for a hour after sensei left just recuperating. Then I thought about what I learned for the day. I really wanted to get down the tree-climbing before tomorrow's practice where I could rub it in Sasuke's face. Thats what I did. I trained for another hour until I got the whole tree-climbing thing down. It was now 8:00 at night. I really needed food, so I knew the place to go: Ichiraku Ramen!

"Ho, who do we have here? Haven't seen you in a couple of days, Naruto. I thought you had finally decided to leave this humble establishment." Teuchi, amazing ramen guy, said. I looked at him in horror. He couldn't possible be serious! "Are you out of your mind! There is no way I would ever give up ramen. Its a gift from God you know."

He just chuckled before getting my order. We chatted and I ate, and ate, and ate some more. Before I was done, the old man's eyebrow had literally disappeared into his air. This was easily the most he had ever eaten at one time. "Don't worry, old man. Its just my new training. I will probably be eating this much from now on, so please keep it coming whenever I come in." At my words, I saw something interesting. It was like his eyes... changed. I could have sworn I saw his eyes turn green with money symbols in them. It was like a weird eye technique thing! Maybe the old man should have been a ninja?

I asked him about it, but he said he had no clue what I was talking about. The thing was that he said it with a smirk, so it just confused me even more. I eventually paid my bill... I think I finally understood why his eyes turned green. That bill was expensive! Well I left my favorite restaurant a few ounces lighter from all the money spent.

I got home and the first I did was take a nice, long shower. I felt I deserved it. Of course even then I didn't take my weights off. Gai-sensei had told me to keep them on at all times. After my nice shower, I went straight to be and set my alarm for 5:00 A.M. No matter how many times I looked at it, I still couldn't believe there was something as evil as a 5:00 A.M. It just wasn't fair.

I woke up bright and shiny with a smile on my face and pieces of machinery stuck to my fist. Wait... that didn't sound good. I looked over and, yep, my alarm clock was now destroyed. There went another valuable instrument in every young ninja's life. I sighed. This meant I would have to get another one before my next training session.

"Ah, Naruto-kun. Welcome my fine young student. Are you ready to express your YOUTH today? Let us start our training with a nice energetic jog. Also I was wondering if you would like to increase your weights? From what I have seen of you, you are becoming strong enough to increase your weights almost every day because of the fox within you. Most people would take longer for the muscles to tear down and grow back stronger, but you, my pupil, have the fortune to have your muscles growing back at a very fast pace."

I looked at him in a panic. My strength was just because of the fox? I asked Gai-sensei about this, but he hurriedly assured me that the fox wouldn't be helping me at all if I wasn't getting stronger by myself. This made me feel a little better, but there would come a reckoning between the fox and myself one day. I would just add it to my to-do list. Maybe I should put this one after becoming Hokage, for Sakura-chan's sake if nothing else because she wouldn't want to see me get hurt when I beat that fox's butt. Yea, lets go with that.

After increasing me weight, I went to work with a will. An hour of warm-ups passed by quickly. The warm-ups included running, push-ups and sit-ups. After the warm-ups, I learned and practiced katas for an hour. Then team training kicked in. Gai-sensei first had us demonstrate the tree-climbing. To my surprise, Sasuke actually did it! Damn, now I couldn't rub it in his face when I did it too. After we all showed Gai-sensei that we were able to do it, he had us spar against him and then we sparred against each other.

My first match was against my precious Sakura-chan. I couldn't hit her! For some reason though, she kept trying to hit me real hard! This presented a problem for me. I really didn't want to get hit by her, but I also couldn't hit her. What was I supposed to do? Then I remembered Gai-sensei's words of wisdom: become stronger through each training. Thats when I started focusing on just dodging her attacks. This way I could become stronger by training my dodging abilities. It was the perfect solution. I was so happy that when I smiled, my teeth shined like the sun. This turned out to be a bad thing because when my teeth started shining, Sakura got blinded and ended up running into a tree after I dodged an attack.

This led to another bad thing because when I immediately went to help her, she hit me! That was outrageous, but then I realized that she probably still blinded and thought I was Sasuke. This made perfect sense in my mind, and I was sticking to that story. After my matchup, Gai-sensei had us swap up opponents. We cycled through each other a couple of times with Gai-sensei correcting our movements when we did wrong. Whenever I went up against Sasuke though, I was unable to really hit him. My speed was so down from all the weight I had on me that he was running circles around me. It was really unfair, but I vowed that I would get so fast that even with my weights on, I would run circles around him.

Team practice ended and Sakura and Sasuke wondered off, while I stayed to train. Training consisted of hours of running and finishing up by using my katas on wooden dummies. Gai-sensei told me to hit the dummy 1000 times with each hand and foot. After even more long hours, I was finally able to finish. This became basically my training schedule for the next few weeks stretching into months.

After we started missions, training didn't really change much except some days we would extend team practice for an hour. I will admit that Sakura-chan and I got even closer. I mean just the other day we were practically kissing. Of course we were carrying that one thing, but that is beside the point. She also didn't call me a baka anymore, but that could also be because Gai-sensei worked our team into the ground and we didn't have time for much idle chatter. Even Sasuke seemed to have lightened up. I mean he doesn't really brood any more. Now he just frowns... and trains. He actually tries to train a lot. Of course this just motivated me to train even more than him.

A month passed this way. Learning katas, running many many miles daily, and increasing my weights each day truly started paying off by the end of the month. I felt like Hokage was just a step away! I was ready for my first real challenge, and nothing was going to stand in my way of getting stronger. Believe it! The only downer of the month was that I couldn't figure out how to make the goken stronger. I had even, shudders at the memory, convinced myself to go to the library and looked up taijutsu styles to see if anything looked good to add. Nothing seemed to work though. I would have to look at it from a different angle if I was going to make the goken style stronger.

Gai-sensei also taught us water-walking after three weeks under him as our sensei. That was cool! Being able to walk on water, what will ninja come up with next? That truly was an exciting thought. Maybe even I could make something that no ninja could make before. Of course to do this, I would actually need to learn some more jutsu. That was the one thing that Gai-sensei really hadn't taught us yet. Gai-sensei said that ninjutsu and genjutsu were a personal thing for any shinobi to learn. He also said that he would teach us one jutsu each after he got everything ready. I guess ready means something, but I am not sure exactly what he would need to get ready for us to learn some kick-ass jutsu.

"Ok, my youthful students, are you ready to show the world your Youth!" At this Sasuke and Sakura kind of did an eye-roll, while I was nodding my head eagerly. "Yes, Gai-sense, the world shall witness my Youth!" Gai-sensei had a tear come out at my honest and truly great answer. "Thats my student, making your youthful sensei so proud," he sobbed to the world. After the tears dried up, Gai-sensei finally told us what we were doing today.

"YOSH! Ready to learn a jutsu?" He yelled/asked as he pumped his fist into the air. "I finally believe that your taijutsu skills are at a level that we can branch off into different things." Gai-sensei then went into his sensei mode. That meant that whatever he was about to say was really important. "Ninjutsu is a vast category. There are so many applications to ninjutsu and likewise genjutsu that truly it is better to know certain things about yourself before you even begin to learn anything. This is why I have brought these!" He then pulled out three plain-looking pieces of paper.

At this we all face-faulted. "Come on, Gai-sensei! Hows paper going to help us?" Sakura asked. "That is a good question, my pink student." At this Sakura's eye started twitching. "These pieces of paper help determine which branch of ninjutsu will be better suited for you to learn. Wether it be fire, wind, earth, water, or lightning, one branch will be easier to learn for each individual person. Now, take one piece of paper each and focus your chakra into it!"

We each did as Gai-sensei instructed. I saw that Sasuke's paper caught on fire. Sakura's paper seemed to become really wet. My paper... well my paper seemed to... crumple. Gai-sensei then started explaining what each change meant. "If the paper burns then you are a fire-natured person, if it gets wet then you are water-natured, if it crumples then you are lightning-natured. Also when it turns to dust then you are earth and if it had split then you would have been wind. Now I will give each of you one jutsu apiece. I want you to master this jutsu before I teach you another." He then split us all up and taught us each individually.

I could also hear Gai-sensei telling Sakura-chan that there were other paths in the shinobi life if the water jutsus really didn't agree with her. I tried to see what Gai-sensei was teaching the others but that really didn't work out for me.

Finally it was my turn! "Gai-sensei, Gai-sensei, what are you going to teach me? Huh! Huh!" Sensei started laughing. Probably in joy because he was so happy for me learning a new jutsu. "Naruto-kun, I will be teaching you an interesting jutsu. Lightning jutsu are an interesting field to learn. Lightning has many abilities. There is the shock ability, the magnetism ability, and the speed factor of lightning jutsu. Of course there could be even more that I am either forgetting or don't know about. Lightning jutsu aren't the most common in the leaf, you see. Truefully, my Eternal rival-Kakashi is the only lightning-natured person that comes right to my head. Maybe you can even get some tips from him later." I was nodding along with everything he was saying. I am just that awesome.

"The jutsu I am going to teach you is called the **Palms of the thunder god. **Well not really, but that is a really cool name!" I face-faulted at that. Sometimes Gai-sensei just couldn't take things seriously. Shaking my head at his crazy antics, I manfully stated, "Come on, Gai-sensei. Give me the jutsu, please. I need it. Please teach me. Teach me! Come on!" Gai-sensei seem to form a sweat-drop, but I think that was my imagination.

"Naruto-kun, the jutsu is really called the **Paralyzing touch **because you channel lightning to your hands and then you touch your opponent. This causes a paralyzing effect in which you can then use your taijutsu to finish the enemy off. Now these are the hand-signs, so get to work and show me your Youthfulness!" We spent the rest of the day working on our jutsu. The next day shined brightly as we went to get a new mission. A mission to test us like never before.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto.**

"Mission, mission, time to go on a mission!" I happily yelled to the world. My team and I were walking to the mission hall. Gai-sensei had promised us that he would try us out with a C-rank mission today. It was time to show the world my Youth, oh... and my skills too.

"Naruto! Can't you shut up? I am trying to talk to Sasuke-kun!" Sakura kindly explained to me. I looked at her with confusion because, to my eyes, it didn't seem like Sasuke was trying to talk at all. Maybe its a girl thing? Oh well, better to not worry about it. I mean its finally time for a real mission. No more of that D-rank nonsense. Yatta!

"Naruto-kun!" Gai-sensei shouted. Snapping to attention I shouted, "Yes, Gai-sensei!" Gai-sensei gave me his pose. "Let your Flames of Youth shine!" I nodded my head in acknowledgement of his amazing advice. It was truly time for the whole world to see my awesomeness. With my skills in the Goken, it was time to show teme who was boss and win the heart of my Sakura-chan. Yes, life was certainly going my way.

We were going to the Hokage's office, and he was going to give me a super, awesome mission! I would finally be able to show the world my skills. Sasuke would bow down to acknowledge my superiority, and Sakura would be begging me for a date. It was going to happen. Believe it!

"Well, we have grocery shopping for Mrs. O'Rielly, painting a fence for Mr. Ottoman, or catching Tora. Which one would you like?" The Old man said this all with a very crafty smile on his face. I think my face looked broken at that moment. I was here for a super, awesome mission! I didn't have time for these stupid missions!

"OLD MAN! We are ready to get a cooler mission. Come on! Give us a cool mission for us youthful ninja!" Gai-sensei had tears of joy running down his face at my words. Sakura looked like a bug had just crawled up her hair. Maybe she really liked bugs? Sasuke looked like a cross between agreement and fear. I could easily understand him being scared of going on a cool mission with me, so I gave him my own version of the nice-guy pose. At this his face settled on fear.

Iruka-sensei then went on a rant about something that sounded boring, so I turned to Gai-sensei and asked if he thought my youth would send us on a super cool mission. Gai-sensei agreed with stars shining in his eyes. Sasuke looked like he was about to puke. Sakura-chan was looking at me like she had never seen me before. Yatta, she was finally seeing my awesomeness!

"Are you listening to me!" Iruka-sensei yelled... loudly. We all looked suitably chagrined even Gai-sensei and mumbled our apologies. Iruka-sensei just sighed while putting his head down on his desk and mumbling to himself. Something about damn kids and just placing them on eternal D-rank missions. Everyone just sweat-dropped while watching him.

"Now, Naruto-kun. Do you really believe you are ready for a, as you put it, a super cool mission?" I just looked at the Old Man like he was crazy. Of course I was ready for an amazing mission. I am Naruto Uzumaki dammit! I will be Hokage one day. Believe it!

The Old Man just chuckled after seeing my look. He then asked Gai-sensei if he thought we were ready for a higher ranking mission. Sensei answered with The pose. I knew what that meant, and apparently so did the Old Man because he gave us a C-rank mission!

Jiji seemed to ponder a minute before looking through a stack of scrolls on his desk. Minutes started ticking by and I was getting bored. How hard could it be to pick a dang mission? Finally, he seemed to come to a decision. Jiji pulled out a scroll from the pile and tossed it to Gai-sensei.

"I thought about sending you on an escort mission, but with your amazing skills, I believe that this one will suit you even better." Jiji said this all with a straight-face. I think a tear came to my eye. He was finally acknowledging my awesomeness! I almost wanted to hug Gai-sense and scream to the heavens about youth.

"This mission a rescue mission. Some bandits have made off with many of a village's women and girls. I want you to get them back. The quicker this mission is completed, the better. I hope I don't have to tell you what could be happening to those ladies even as we speak." Jiji finished this with a very serious look, but I didn't get it! What would those bandits do?

"Jiji, what would bandits do to women?" I loudly asked. At this I saw looks of astonishment coming from most of the people in the room. It wasn't that bad of a question, was it?

"Naruto, in these types of situations, there is a very real possibility of a woman being raped by bandits." I was still confused. What was so bad about this rappe thing. I could tell Iruka-sensei saw my look of confusion, and he very kindly explained to me the answer.

"Naruto, did you pay any attention in class! Good grief! Rape is when a women is forced to have sex against their will. It is one of the most despicable crimes in the world. Hokage-sama is placing a great trust in you three to save these women. The faster you save them, the better off they will be." Iruka finished his statement in a quite whisper. I really felt like an idiot then. How did I not already know what rape was?

I glanced at Sakura-chan worriedly. Did she worry about rape too? I decided that the quicker we left, the faster we could save us some women. "If its so important, than what are we waiting on? Come on, Sakura-chan and Gai-sensei. Lets go!"

When I exited the room, I thought I heard Iruka-sensei saying something about, "Did he just completely ignore Sasuke or something." That might have been just me hearing things though. Iruka-sensei would already know that I was so amazing that we wouldn't need Sasuke for this mission. I would save all those ladies by myself if needed. Believe it!

With a new mission, our team quickly made its way out of the village. I had to admit to being quite excited. It was my first time out of the village, after all. We ran through the trees with me in the lead. Sasuke-teme was last, right where he belonged.

Hopping through the trees for hours was a great way to practice my speed. Every time the Teme and Sakura-chan seemed to slow down, I would demand to go faster. It was the 'self-imposed rule' at its best! Turning even the ordinary travel through the forest into the best of training. The weights on my legs and arms assured me that this was actually good training.

"Naruto-baka! Slow down!" Sakura-chan called out from the back. Woh! She was _way_ back there. Maybe she needs to learn the 'self-imposed rule'? Its a good rule for any youthful ninja to know.

"Come on my pink student! Let us show the world our Youth by going even faster!" Gai-Sensei shouted out. He and I took off. We were going to save some girls, and our fastest speed was the only acceptable thing.

We sped off into the trees. Sakura-chan and Teme were somewhere behind us though Teme was actually only a few steps behind Gai-Sensei and I. That didn't really matter. The only thing that mattered was that I was in the lead! Sakura-chan was going to be so proud!

After a hour of furious training, we arrived at the town where the bandits had stolen the women. It was time for my amazing detective abilities to kick in. I would find out which way they went and show everyone how awesome I am!

"The bandits are that way." Sasuke-teme grunted while pointing to the east. I looked at him with betrayal. How could he take my moment to shine away from me? It was supposed to be me who found the evil-doers! How did he even know where they were in the first place. Was he working with them!

"Ah, excellent deduction, Young Sasuke. It seems the bandits left quite the trail for us to follow, so follow it we shall. Let us go, my students!" Gai-Sensei said before dashing off after this mysterious trail. What trail!

I followed Gai-Sensei because I just knew that he wouldn't steer me wrong. Sasuke-teme... I am not so sure about him. We followed 'the trail' for half an hour before spotting the encampment. It was kind of a let-down. It was so small! Why couldn't the villager's take care of this themselves?

Gai-Sensei held up his hand to stop us before we entered the camp. We all stopped in a tree that had a great view of the going-ons below us. I was confused though. Why did all those men keep entering those two tents? And why did I keep hearing these crying noises whenever the men entered? It was so confusing!

I looked at Sakura-chan to see if she knew what was going on. That was when my world changed. It was a slight change, but a change nonetheless. Sakura-chan was scared. Her face was bloodless. She was trembling and sweating. She couldn't seem to look away from the scene down below. What was going on down there to make my Sakura-chan like this?

I turned to look at Gai-Sensei, and I saw something that shocked me further. Gai-Sensei was... angry. Fury was written on his face, and I was scared. What was going on? I didn't understand!

"Naruto-kun, listen well. What you are seeing is a depravity that should not happen to anyone. Those people down there are Un-Youthful!" I gasped. Un-Youthful! "The men who enter those tents are taking something from women that should not be taken. They are taking the women's innocence, and those women will never be the same." Gai-Sensei shook his head.

"Team! I want every bandit down there taken out. The quicker this is done, the quicker we can help the women. Move out!" Gai-Sensei jumped down into the camp, and I followed after. Teme and Sakura-chan followed after me.

We rushed into the camp. I engaged with two men who were coming out of a tent. I knocked them out with ease. Gai-Sensei's training was paying off. It was a good feeling. Then I looked around, and my eyes widened. I couldn't believe my eyes.

Gai-Sensei... was killing every man he fought. I could tell by the way he hit them. It snapped their necks. I then looked at Sasuke-teme and saw that he was using kunai. He also killed everyone he faced! What was going on! I looked at my beloved Sakura-chan. She was screaming! She was screaming in rage as she stabbed a man again and again long after he was dead. What was going on!

I fell to my knees as I looked at my beloved Sakura-chan covered in blood. This was not real. It couldn't be real! How could they kill these people? Killing is not right! "Stop!" But only I could hear my cry. "What is wrong with you?" I sobbed.

I then heard a sound coming from inside the tent that I was kneeling outside of. I dragged myself over to it. I lifted the flap and looked in. NO! NO NO NO! NOOOOO!

My mind rebelled at what I saw. Inside the small tent were five girls. I couldn't even call them women. They were around my age. Four of them had been torn to pieces. I could see entrails scattered throughout the tent and hanging from the hair of the one live girl. Blood soaked through everything. This couldn't be happening. This was unreal!

I looked to the last girl who lived. She stared at me. It was a stare of utmost hatred. A stare of pain. A stare of madness. I hurled myself out of the tent and soaked the ground with my vomit.

"What the hell is going on!" I sobbed. Being a ninja means protecting people. We rescue princesses and save lives. What is this? How could we allow this!

I looked out over the camp. I could see my teammates walking through the camp. All of the bandits were down, and Sasuke and Gai-Sensei were looking through the tents. Most of the time they came out with a shake of their heads. Only once did Gai-Sensei come out with people in his arms. He brought out two people, one in each hand, and gently placed them on the ground.

This isn't what being a ninja is all about, is it? We save people. Not this. I despaired. My mind rebelled against everything I had seen. What is the meaning! Why would people do this? I didn't know.

I heard sobbing, and when I turned around, I saw it was Sakura-chan. She was wrapped in a ball sobbing her eyes out. I wanted to go to her, show her how gentle I could be, but in truth I wanted to join her on the ground crying. This couldn't be what being a ninja was about. It couldn't!

I saw Sasuke throw up after he entered a tent. Somehow, it didn't make me feel better. Something inside me was crying out at the destruction and pain that was all around me. I couldn't comprehend it. It was wrong.

Gai-Sensei finally finished checking the camp and came over to me. He stood above me. His form blocked out the sun. He reached down and took my elbow. He lifted me to my feet, and said the words that changed my world.

"Sometimes, life is not pretty. Sometimes, things happen that are so destructive and _stupid_ that they make your very mind rebel. This is one of those times. What these bandits did was sick on so many levels. Hokage-sama most likely didn't know the depth of the depravity practiced here or he would have sent more experienced ninja. This is no site for fresh genin." Gai-Sense told me.

"This is the reason I am a ninja, Naruto-kun." I looked at Gai-Sensei with questions eating at my mind. "To stop this is why I became strong. To stop this is why I continue to become stronger. To stop this senseless pain is the duty of all Konoha ninja. Naruto-kun, will you continue to be a ninja even after you have seen this horrible thing?" Gai-Sensei asked.

I looked at my sensei. I then looked at the scene in front of me. Bandits that Gai-sensei and Sasuke-teme littered the ground. I could even see the one Sakura-chan had killed. Blood was everywhere. I didn't even want to think about what must be in all the tents.

"I don't want to see this again, Gai-Sensei." I said quietly. Tears were still falling from my eyes, but I was gaining back control of myself. "If I have to become stronger or stay a ninja to prevent this from ever, ever happening again, I will." I stated with a slight stutter.

I wiped the tears off my eyes with the palms of my hands. Somewhere along the way, blood had gotten on the tips of my fingers. Blood, the cost of being a ninja.

After that, we returned the people who were still alive to their village. There was much crying that night. It hurt. Even though I know that it was not my fault, and I could literally do nothing about it. It still hurt. The cries of pain from the brothers, husbands, mothers, and sons echoed in my ear. It hurt.

We made our way back to Konoha with heavy hearts. At least mine was, and I do not doubt that Sakura-chan and Sasuke-teme were both changed by our experience. We went back having accomplished the mission, but it felt like I failed. No completed mission should end in that many tears and that much pain.

After reporting to Hokage-Jiji, I went home. I went home and immediately added more weight to my body. I had opted for the full-body weights. Not only did I have the leg weights on, but I also had arm weights and even weight around my middle. I was going to get stronger. Strong enough were I never have to witness that kind of scene again. Believe it!

**A/N: Been a while. The first half of this chapter was written around three or more months ago while the second half was done today, so I am sure that there is probably a difference from the beginning writing style and the end. I would also like to know what my readers think. I put in a life-altering thing for the last part of this chapter. If I continue writing this fic, Naruto would be more mature because his innocence has been shattered. I would probably continue showing Naruto as stupid, but he wouldn't be naïve about the real ninja world. Feed-back would be welcome on what my readers think. **


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